7 Kurdish PKK militants slain in southern Turkey
At least seven members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have been killed after Turkish security forces carried out two separate operations in the country’s Hakkari and Adiyaman provinces.
According to the Hakkari provincial governor's office, Turkish gendarmerie troopers mounted an offensive against PKK militants on a road linking the Kurdish populated city of Yuksekova to Semdinli district on Thursday, killing five PKK militants in the process.
The operation was conducted after police received a tip-off about the activity of heavily-armed gunmen in Yuksekova.
Separately, Turkish forces launched an operation in the southern province of Adiyaman. The Turkish soldiers then engaged in a firefight with the Kurdish PKK fighters and killed two of them. Two members of the Turkish forces also sustained moderate injuries during the gun battle.
Meanwhile, Turkish fighter jets have pounded PKK positions in Qandil Mountains, which is under the control of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the aftermath of the aerial attacks.
Turkey has been launching airstrikes against purported Daesh targets in Syria as well as PKK positions in Iraq, after a Daesh bomb attack left 32 people dead in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc, across the border from the northern Syrian town of Kobani, on July 20. The PKK later killed two Turkish police officers, saying they had been collaborating with Daesh.
A shaky ceasefire that had stood since 2013 was declared as null by the PKK following the Turkish airstrikes against the group, narrowing chances of the two sides reaching a deal in the near future.
Reports say dozens of Turkish soldiers have been killed in clashes with PKK militants over the past weeks.
Some observers have expressed doubt about Turkey's intentions in the airstrikes. They say Ankara, which already stands accused of having supported Daesh, cannot be serious in the fight against the terrorist group. Turkey, they say, is more seriously inclined to target the PKK, which Ankara considers as its enemy number one.
The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s. The conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead.
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